C|Net’s got a very good writeup of the situation that owners of hacked iPhones face now that Steve Jobs has said Apple won’t simply tolerate their antics. It’s unclear how diligent Apple will actually be when it comes to fighting this battle — Jobs is very good at sounding soothing and then delivering nothing — but it seems likely that Apple will at least make a superficial effort to make life difficult for the more high-profile sources of phone-hacking software.
None of this is likely to matter much to iPhone users who know how to use Bittorrent and IRC, however. If Apple got serious about the effort I could imagine users getting locked out of firmware upgrades and iTunes use (lest they lose their hacked functionality permanently). AT&T might also start preventing nonstandard apps from using their network. The former seems likely to me; the latter, not so much.
Apple is looking for money, Not only is Apple getting a cut of the ATTs initial sale, they also get a cut of the monthly data charges:
http://www.3luxe.com/blogs/17
Well that’s undoubtedly true — the CNet article notes it. But Apple is also trying to maintain their cool-kid credibility and avoid rocking the boat *too* much. I think this will probably translate into them going after those who make unlocking your phone easy, but more-or-less ignoring the custom app crowd (although they won’t be shy about shutting them out, too, if it’s necessary in order to stop folks from unlocking).